Serenity Lost
by Demontale
Summary: The women are out on the road again! May the Realms not be left in chaos. Hades and Ares team up. o.O
1. The Road to and Arrival at Vendell.

[[NOTICE: Rejalyn Athenlar is © Samantha Schneider (Author), Marisa Van'Kre is © Marisa Hudson, and Carmencita Inez is © Samantha (Leigh) Janeston.  
  
* * *  
  
//A bond as firm as ours..  
Another like it I should like to find,  
Try as they like, those Powers,  
Couldn't make me believe of another tie of our kind.  
  
Each day there was another fall,  
But we climbed back up the rope knowing we should,  
If we did not slip then between us there was a wall  
Did we really do all we could?  
  
It seems we had failed,  
What made that day so different - I must think,  
The wind had wailed,  
And then you were gone before I could blink.  
  
I rarely saw you,  
'Twas like you'd disappeared,  
And then I knew,  
Together would come the things I feared.//  
  
* * *  
  
"Keep your eyes on the road! Do you have a death wish for us all?!"  
  
"I can't steer when you're screaming in my ears, damn it!" Carmencita snapped back at Marisa.  
  
Rejal chimed in with her two cents: "You can't steer at all, you roadrager!"  
  
"You wait till we get to Vendell," Carmen promised them. "You'll be sorry you doubted my superior driving skills then, you both will!"  
  
"If we manage to survive the trip //to// Vendell," Marisa muttered darkly.  
  
"Get back on the otherside of the path!" Rejal screamed, making Carmen go temporarily deaf (as it was screamed in her ear). "Gods! I didn't know carriages could go this fast on these old ruddy paths!"  
  
"Wazzat you said, Rejallerz?"  
  
* * *  
  
Amazingly enough, it may seem, the three women did make it to Vendell alive.  
  
"Rejal drives next time," Marisa said as she stepped out of the coach..  
  
"Woohoo!" The woman's fist flew up in the air in triumph as she danced around with a grin.  
  
The drow's features wavered then. "On second thought, I'll drive. Apparently I'm the only one who can handle the major responsibility of transporting all three of us from city to city."  
  
That brought snickers from the other two women.  
  
Carmen went over to the front of the carriage to see to the two horses that she had pushed hard on the journey. She let her lustrous black hair down from its 'tail and stepped forward to give the horses a thankful comb-over with a curry brush. Her brown eyes noted that despite being slightly weary, the horses were in perfect condition and the carriage was still in tact. She dusted off her red tunic and then clapped her hands together. "Well, now where do we go, Mari?"  
  
The drow, Marisa Van'kre, smiled innocently. "Why, to the inn you so cleverly made us stop in front of, dear Cita." Her brown, orb-like eyes mimicked the innocence the smile portrayed. She brushed the long, silver/white hair on the right side of her head behind her ear with a hand with skin as ebony colored as the rest of her body, leaving the hair on the left side hanging freely. She placed her hands on her hips and looked questioningly to the sign beside the building. "La Vieille Taverne."  
  
"Looks old, alright," Rejal said. The olive-skinned Greek shook her head in an unsure way, thinking about the whole trip in general. Her medium brown hair swayed back and forth as her head shook. Her light brown eyes gleamed as she extended her arms out and called: "Styx! C'mere Styx!"  
  
Carmen shook her head, thinking Rejal's attempts were futile, but suddenly the carriage began to shake. Styx stumbled out.  
  
Styx was an excitable, young Great Dane. His fur was almost entirely black, except for one white-tipped ear. He scrambled into his owner's arms and gave her face a lick of appreciation.  
  
"You had better hope they allow dogs here, Rejallerz," Carmen said, opening the door as Marisa made the carriage secure.  
  
Rejal smiled calmly. "I'm sure Styx is an exception," she said with a smirk. "And, if not, then I see to it that he be made an exception."  
  
Marisa saw the Greek's hand float over to a dagger hidden beneath her vest. The drow eyed Rejal seriously. "Now don't you be making any trouble here. We don't want to be run out of town before we can accomplish anything. That dog's been too much trouble already."  
  
"Sh!"  
  
Marisa's hands floated to her hips. "Don't tell me to be quiet; you already said the dog was deaf!"  
  
"Styx can still /sense/ what you're saying!" Rejal said protectively, "He's really sensitive!"  
  
"He's still more -"  
  
"Ssshhh!!!"  
  
"Did I not tell you to NOT tell me to be quiet?!"  
  
"That wasn't me.." Rejal whispered.  
  
A man's face peered out from between the gap in his window shutters. "Do you people not know HOW to be QUIET?!"  
  
"Sshhh!" Marisa mimicked.  
  
The man murmured a curse, but went back to his bed.  
  
Carmen smirked, leaning in the doorway. "If you two are done making fun of the paying customers now. . . I've managed to get our rooms. They were the only rooms left. Mari and I are sharing a room with two beds, and Rej is in a smaller room with only one bed with Styx. Styx /is/ allowed inside as long as he causes no trouble."  
  
"Did 'oo 'ear that, Styxie? Yousa gets to sleep wiv me tonight, yes 'oo do!" Rejal cooed.  
  
Marisa snickered. "Some reward for being a good boy. . ."  
  
Carmen chuckled, then made a dash for the upstairs inside. "I call the window-bed!"  
  
"Oh! No, you don't! Get back here, 'Cita!!"  
  
"Come on Styxie-boy, let's go get ready for nighty-night. Yes we will! Yes we will!"  
  
"SSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!  
  
* * * 


	2. Dreams

Carmen beat Marisa into their room and thusly, won the window-bed.  
  
Although, once Marisa thought it over, she was thankful she was closer to the exit.  
  
"You had to give Rejal the single-bed room. . ."  
  
"The thing at the front desk said the dog specifically had to be kept in the smaller room. I didn't think you'd like to sleep with it. . ."  
  
"Goodness; you were actually thinking? This air is doing wonders for you, Cita!"  
  
". . .Though I do agree with you, Mari," the spaniard continued, ignoring the drow. "Styx has been plenty of trouble. I mean, I know Rejal is lonely and all. . ."  
  
"Lonely? She has us!"  
  
"Sven."  
  
"Ah.."  
  
"Wiseguy."  
  
"Ah..yea..him too.."  
  
Carmen began fluffing her pillows while Marisa closed the room's blinds and curtains.  
  
"We could search for them after we find --"  
  
"If we didn't at least give it a try I think Rejal'd go off on her own for a look-see."  
  
* * *  
  
While Carmen and Marisa were just settling down into their beds, Rejal was already asleep while Styx rested at the foot of the bed.  
  
It was not a peaceful slumber.  
  
Rejalyn Athenlar had become accustomed to the frequent sitings of demons, hellminions, flames, and so on.  
  
But never once prior had she had such a nightmare like the one she was having now.  
  
Rejal had never dreamed of her own death before.  
  
She was falling. . . Falling toward the Abyss. . . The Abyss opened its chasm-like walls as she fell toward it.  
  
Closer. . .  
  
Closer. . .  
  
And then it swallowed her whole.  
  
Rejal fell through the mists, and then impacted with the ground. The ground was soft - she went right through, straight down into muck. She tried to swim out, tried to climb out. . .couldn't.  
  
She was stuck under layers of quicksand in the Abyss.  
  
And then her air ran out.  
  
* * *  
  
But, if anyone was having a true nightmare, it was Marisa, who had fallen asleep even before her head hit her pillow.  
  
"Pansies and posies and daisies and rosies! Pansies and posies and daisies and rosies! Pansies and posies and daisies and rosies. . ."  
  
"Stop...singing.....stop the singing!!" Dream Marisa cried out.  
  
The fluffy, white bunnies with beady, red eyes did not halt their singing, or their dancing. Yes, the bunnies were dancing. They had formed a chorus line and were kicking up their paws singing their happy song. . .  
  
"Pansies and posies and daisies and rosies! Sugar cookies and candy canes! Baby birdies and choo-choo trains! Pansies and posies and daisies and rosies! Lalalalalaaaa!!"  
  
"Noo..." Dream Marisa whispered. "Death by kawaiiness. . . NOOO! Not the fuzzy bunnies!!"  
  
Dream Marisa unsheathed her sword. . .  
  
But, as soon as it was unsheathed, the weapon became a pillow.  
  
"Nooo!"  
  
The fuzzy bunnies stopped their joyous kicking. Foam flew from their mouths as they snarled and roared. They began advancing.  
  
Then, the pillow got a life of its own. It flew from her hands and soared up into the air. . .flying. . .  
  
And then it dive-bombed her and hit her over the head.  
  
* * *  
  
"OOMPH!!" Marisa awoke as Carmen's pillow knocked her out of slumber.  
  
The spaniard turned the tablelight on. "Do you KNOW how HARD it is to SLEEP when you're SCREAMING?!"  
  
"But, Cita. . . The bunnies. . .they were so cute and fuzzy. . ."  
  
Carmen sighed. "The bunnies again?! I thought they'd left you alone after we left Waterdeep that last time. . . Oh, fine. What did they do this time?"  
  
"Well," Marisa said. "They actually learned how to chorus-line in harmony! And they sang a different song this time involving flowers, cookies, and trains!! It was awful! And when I tried to kill them, my sword became a pillow and beat me!"  
  
Carmen snickered. "The bunnies are getting smarter. . "  
  
"Were you dreaming, Cita?"  
  
"As a matter of fact, I was," Carmen sighed sleepily. "You woke me up from a dream where I was in Calimport getting ready to fence some blond spaniard who said I knew him."  
  
"Sounds familiar," mused the drow, yawning.  
  
Carmen only grinned. "Sounds like a dead man," she said. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have some skinny blond male's posterior to outfence and hurt. . ." She rested back onto her pillow as Marisa turned out the light.  
  
* * *  
  
Rejal awoke in a sweat.  
  
Styx had moved from the foot of the bed to the floor in a sitting position, with his head position beside her left arm. Rejal's hand reached down tentatively and stroked the great dane's head lovingly.  
  
Styx let out a soft whine.  
  
//Were you worried about me, Styxie?// Rejal wondered.  
  
Styx stopped whining and lied down on the floor, stretching out.  
  
//Of course I was worried,// Styx said. //You were moaning and moving around too much. That's not how you normally sleep. You're usually at peace.//  
  
//Dou you ever dream, Styxie?//  
  
//What is a dream?//  
  
//It's like. . . Well, it's kind of hard to explain. . . You 'see' things in your sleep. . .images. . .scenes. . .//  
  
//Perhaps I am blind as well as deaf, because I have never seen things as I slept?//  
  
//No, no, Styx. You're not blind. Not everone dreams when they sleep. I have heard that those who have no worries or such do not dream. Are you content with life?// Rejal asked.  
  
//Content?//  
  
//Are you happy? Do you want anything to change? Are you worried about the future?//  
  
//Future?//  
  
//What is to come.//  
  
//Oh. .no, I guess not. I have never thought of a 'future' before. I just live each day out and every morning I wake up again and live out another day and continue on.//  
  
//So, you are truly happy?//  
  
//As long as I am with you each day, I am happy.// Styx said.  
  
Rejal smiled, "Oh, Styxie. . ." She reached out and gave him a hug. 


	3. The Different Faces of Hell

Chapter Three  
  
Once again, Rejal awoke in a sweat. She looked over to the floor where Styx lay.  
  
"It never happened," she said softly. "You never came over and spoke to me. Just another dream. . ."  
  
She blinked and yawned, then gazed to the window. "The sun is coming up. Dammit, I'm still tired and now I'll never be able to get back to sleep. . ."  
  
But as she blinked once again, she fell back onto her pillow, snuggled the blankets close to her and closed her eyes.  
  
Styx watched through three-quarter closed eyes. The great dane sighed, then got up and looked out the window, down to the street below.  
  
He stalked over to the door and turned the latch with his mouth, then exited the room, carefully and quietly shutting the door.  
  
* * *  
  
//From a hellish nightmare, You came to me.  
  
My life would be spared, So said you. To serve you without question, Was all I was required to do.  
  
That was two years ago.  
  
I've worked so hard and long, All for the pact we made. I made sure nothing went wrong, It's time your half be fully paid.  
  
You seem to forget.  
  
Minion, you call me. I see now what I have become. I never thought I'd be a slave, But your wishes make me go numb.  
  
I hurt.  
  
You put me through torture.  
I've forgotten my old life.  
I must be drugged,  
To keep going through all of this and not look for a knife. . .  
  
I want to end it all!  
  
You've made me weak.  
I don't blame you.  
I'm easier to handle when I'm meek. Just know, one day I plan to get you.  
  
From a hellish nightmare,  
You came to me.//  
  
  
Over the low valley came the whistling sound.  
  
It was a low, almost mournful warbling. Paranormal, some would think.  
  
But the people of Vendell were asleep. The only way they could hear it would be in their dreams.  
  
Styx followed the whistling. Styx knew where it came from.  
  
Styx would never answer to Styx again.  
  
Past the willow grove and little farming field ran the dog, past the little brook and rock pile, out into the lowest valley of the outskirts of Vendell.  
  
The whole trip took barely seven minutes. Though a good town for a party, Vendell was pitifully small when compared to other surrounding cities and suburbs.  
  
"Ah; good to have you back, minion."  
  
The dog looked up, ears tracking down the direction of the voice, eyes dawning on recognition.  
  
"It takes you this long to remember me, Lyn? I am surprised! However, you shall not have to deal with this again, which should make you happy, eh?"  
  
The dog nodded, then arched its back. A moan escaped as the dog became woman.  
  
Fur was sucked back into the flesh as claws retracted. The once masculine paws straighted out into delicate, feminine hands. The muzzle shrank, faded back into the natural face of Lyn.  
  
Lyn had been a simple part-time librarian, part-time bartending waitress before one night a stranger had come to her just as she was closing up the bar.  
  
* * *  
  
//The doors had opened with plenty of creaking, like they always had. Lyn shuddered. 'Damn chilly spring air,' she thought silently.  
  
A man came with that breeze. He wall tall, but extremely pale.  
  
'Definately not my type,' Lyn mused.  
  
His black eyes swept over to her. "It is your turn," he said matter-of-factly.  
  
"The hell?" she voiced as he stepped nearer.  
  
"You can call it anything you want now, you are coming with me."  
  
"You'll have to kill me first!" Lyn threw a punch at his head.  
  
The man dodged easily with a simple movement of his neck. He smiled slightly. "A fighter. I've always liked fighters. They're good at understanding propositions."  
  
"What's this proposition?"  
  
He smiled again. "I knew you were a fighter.  
  
"This proposition, now. . . Well, tonight it was stated that you were to die. A man was supposed to come and assassinate you for a wrong done to him by the car owner. The man, however, tripped and killed himself when he fell on a snake on his way here. The Cosmos are screwed up, you could say. Nothing is as it should be. Nothing will be the same.  
  
"That damn assassin ruined everything by being clumbsy! Anyway. . .I was supposed to 'right' a wrong and have you killed anyway, but killing cold blood isn't for me. However, you still cannot be here when the dawn comes, otherwise your soul will be taken from your body by my DemonHounds, and you don't want that, do you?  
  
"I thought not."  
  
Lyn stared at the strange man.  
  
"My proposition is for you to become a type of underling for me. You will be given powers beyond your imagination! You will work directly for me, following my commands and doing what I ask. In return, you will stay alive, and I will also promise to eventually give you back a life, but with a different alias.  
  
"What do you say?"  
  
"Who /are/ you?"  
  
"Me?" the man asked with a grin. "I am Hades, friend to the Fates."  
  
He asked again, "What do you say?"  
  
Lyn did not hesitate. "I accept your offer."  
  
This seemed to take Hades by surprise momentarily. "You accept?"  
  
"It beats having the soul ripped out of me by Demons."//  
  
* * *  
  
Now, Lyn would rather be dead.  
  
Her phsyical strength was waning down. Her mental strength was also diminishing.  
  
'That was his plan all along.' she thought silently. 'Wear me down until I am nothing but his automaton. Eventually my soul will become his entirely anyway. I will wear down until he has to supply me with some type of steroided strength, and then I will have that debt to repay. . . And I have seen how much of a beast he can be when it comes to collecting his tributes. . .  
  
'The question is,' she continued thinking to herself, 'why did he call me away now? What is it that he wants me to do for him now?' 


	4. Pain in Heart; Pain in Soul

Chapter 4  
  
"You've been with the mortal called Rejalyn Athenlar for quite a while now," the man, Hades, said. "Your task was to gather information. I trust you have a report for me now?"  
  
Lyn nodded slowly. /What would he want to know about the woman and her friends, life, and so on?/ "Yes, sir. Rejalyn, or Rejal as her friends call her -"  
  
"She has friends?"  
  
Lyn supressed a grinning smirk. "Yes, sir. Rejalyn has friends."  
  
"Interesting. . .include them in the report."  
  
"Of course." Lyn nodded. "Rejalyn is a fighter in some ways. She is also stubborn, and does her best to hide her inner thoughts and emotions.  
  
"Rejal longs to see those of her past. . . Whether you have already claimed them or not, sire. Lately she has seemed somewhat morbid and out-of-sorts. Before she met up with her two companions again a few weeks ago she was extremely loney, even though she did have the dog along with her.  
  
"Her two companions are a spaniardess and a half night-elf/half drow. The previous is called Carmencita and the latter is known as Marisa, also called the Cobra in some parts. For awhile she was aso traveling with the dragon called Sven, and Tahlet."  
  
Hades raised an eyebrow. "I have been told of the Cobra before."  
  
Lyn couldn't wait any longer. "Lord Hades; if I may ask, what is it that you called me back here for? What do you require of me now?"  
  
He smiled. It was a cold, dark smirk when compared to the eternally burning fires of hell. However, it was the only way the master of death knew how to grin.  
  
"I called you here because that woman has been a thorn in the ass of an associate of mine since she was fifteen years of age back in her home kingdom of Alahar. He wants her out of his way; perhaps not dead, but atleast 'moved' from his pathway.  
  
"And you are part of the plan. Not the dog you, but the human you."  
  
"What am I supposed to do?" Lyn asked softly.  
  
"Distract her. Act like a local girl and sort of 'chum up' to the group. Show them around. After a few days my associate will come into contact with you and give further instructions from that point."  
  
"How will I know who this 'associate' of yours is?"  
  
"Believe me, little Lyn, you will know."  
  
Lyn watched her master curiously. Another question formed in her mind. "And what of Rejal's canine companion?"  
  
"He will be found dead in the street when she awakens. A blow to it's poor liddle head will have done the poor bugger in."  
  
"You're killing something that wasn't even true in the first place?"  
  
"I can do what I want. I can create what I want. I can make things happen when I want. Therefore I created a replica of your dog form and made it die. Remember that, Lyn. The world is my toy."  
  
Lyn hesitated. That was, without a doubt, a direct threat toward her.  
  
Hades waved his hand. "Get going. You have a new job to do now."  
  
Despite her mind's tortured scream of 'Nooo!!', Lyn's legs started to carry her back toward the town.  
  
* * *  
  
Rejal was shocked.  
  
Who would kill her dog? Who would kill her poor, poor Styxie? Who was that cruel? That merciless?  
  
"They. Will. Die."  
  
Carmen patted Rejal's back as Marisa helped Rejal onto her feet. Having already consoled her and offered their hands in helping with the capture of the fiend, there was little else they could think to do that would be much help.  
  
"Let's go back to La Vielle Taverne and get some drinks," Carmen offered softly.  
  
Rejal nodded and the three turned to the building they had stayed in. They quietly entered and took their seats at the main bar and ordered their drinks.  
  
The three girls drank slowly in silence until a man sat on Rejal's left.  
  
The man was big and burly with a beer belly. He was almost completely bald except for some hair in a braided rattail he was growing that was almost down to his ass. He had a long beard the same orance-red as his rattail and dark green eyes. On his arm was a skull tattoo with a sword through it and the name of "Punkin."  
  
Rejal eyed the man. "Did you kick my dog and kill him?"  
  
"Uh. . . . .no."  
  
Rejal turned and faced him fully. "'Uh. . . . .no,'" she mimicked him. "Took a nice amount of time for you to answer that question, didn't it, Mister Punkin? If that's even your REAL NAME!" she shrieked.  
  
Carmen grimaced and looked down into her glass, muttering, "I'm guessing this was a bad idea."  
  
"Of course not, Cita; Rejal can vent out frustration this way," Marisa said.  
  
"Look lady! I didn't kill your damn mutt!" Punkin pounded his fist to the table.  
  
"He wasn't a 'damn mutt'! He was a great dane, you dolt! Don't you even bother finding out about dogs before you hurt them?!"  
  
"I didn't hurt your dog, lady!"  
  
"Don't call me 'lady!'"  
  
"Why?" Punkin asked, raising an eyebrow. "Aren't you one?"  
  
Marisa grabbed Rejal's arm and Carmen put a hand over her mouth before Rejal could say anything else.  
  
"I'm sorry, 'Punkin'," she said. "Our friend has been having a bad day. Please excuse us and don't try coming after us because of this or we'll be forced to take action against you. Have a nice day!"  
  
They hustled Rejal out of the room.  
  
"Nice touch, Cita," Marisa said, grinning.  
  
"Eew," Carmen said.  
  
"What?"  
  
"She licked my hand!"  
  
  
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